ConnecticutBob.Com is a modest blog on the internet since 2006. Progressive ideas are encouraged, and all politically-minded and reasonable people are welcome. America is the greatest country in the world, but we'll bomb you if you disagree.

Thursday, May 26, 2016

I'm getting tired of hearing from Clinton fans about how terrible it is that Sanders supporters aren't happy with the way the primary system is being rigged by the Democratic National Committee to make Hillary the presumptive nominee. The Clinton supporters are attacking Sanders fans, calling them "Bernie Bros" (a term I feel is disrespectful and belittling. Imagine the outrage if someone started calling Clinton supporters "Hillary Ho's"!) and railing against them and accusing them of pledging to NOT vote for Clinton if she wins the nomination.

Guess what?

Clinton supporters are the ones who came up with that strategy back in 2008!

And boy, they were very vocal about it.

Yeah, they said that!

So, the angry Hillary supporters created the PUMAs (Party Unity My Ass), people who swear to vote for McCain, or write in Hillary's name should Obama be nominated:

And here's another fervent Hillary supporter letting everyone know exactly how much she supports the nominee:

"An inadequate black male!"

"Goddamn the Democrats!"

Sheesh! Imagine if a Sanders supporter let loose with a rant like that about Hillary.

So, perhaps some of you Hillary supporters should tone it down a little when attributing your own behaviors to people who support Sanders.

Because you all know there wasn't a single chair thrown at the Nevada convention, but you all couldn't resist jumping onto that bullshit meme because it makes your candidate seem more like a victim.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

This week President Obama endorsed the new Department of Labor rule regarding overtime pay for workers who acquire more than 40 hours a week. Basically, it raises the threshold for those salaried workers who currently work for unpaid overtime.

Previous to this rule, which goes into effect in December 2016, if you made more than $23,660 per year, you were exempt from overtime pay. The DOL has doubled that amount, so if you're salaried and make less than $47,476, you get overtime pay when you work more than 40 hours. And this amount will be revisited every 3 years to make adjustments based on cost of living and average salary wages.

Another big plus is that exemptions for salaried workers who have managerial duties are also stopped. Which means (and this is close to home since my wife is a manager at her job) that employers will either have to compensate managerial workers for overtime, or limit them to a strict 40 hour work week.

Either of which is fine for us. I'd be happy with my wife either being paid for her 50-hour work weeks, or being home at dinner time and on weekends.

This is a good thing, and a fair thing, and I only hope we continue to see workers protected by their government.

Hey, it ain't so bad to see a lame duck president still doing good things for us working Americans!

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

secret or dishonest activity or maneuvering."widespread financial shenanigans had ruined the fortunes of many"

And then, of course, there's the wild unfounded accusations made by Hillary supporters (and please note that I call them "supporters", not "bots", "bros", or any other sort of insult) that spread like wildfire after the convention fiasco. Via Bob Morris, a political blogger in Nevada:

"Berniebot chair-throwing truthers!" Gosh, I'm finding all of this comically absurd in a deranged way.

There is furious argument about whether or not Sanders supporters threw chairs in anger at the train-wreck Nevada State Convention. Really!

"The video shows a chair being thrown."
"Does not. He picked up the chair, that's all."
"He picked in up in anger."
"Did not."
(Repeat conversation for all videos concerning chairs. Then insult each other for being corrupt corporate sellouts / commie socialist troublemakers.)

RalstonReports has been cheerfully poking the BernieBro Beast about this and the results in his Twitter thread on this are fast and furious.

I still don't know what happened there. People who were there sometimes have differing accounts...

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

(About 30 years ago I parachuted from the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia, and lived!)

In yesterdays West Virginia primary, Bernie Sanders won convincingly over Hillary Clinton.

In a state that she won eight years ago.

I thought Hillary was supposed to be unbeatable in the South.

Obviously, there has been a significant change in the voters' perception of Clinton.

Sanders won big, with 51.4% of the Democratic vote to Clinton's 36%. Possibly this number was helped because of the "semi-open" primary system they use, where voters registered under a party MUST vote in their party's primary, but unaffiliated (independent) voters may vote in either primary.

So Bernie's huge margin may have to do with the fact that, just as in the general election, unaffiliated voters may vote for either candidate. This reflects the polling that has Sanders consistently doing better against Trump than Clinton.

But the Democratic machine overwhelmingly wants Hillary to be their candidate, and Bernie will never be treated fairly by the party apparatus. The game is rigged, and going in everyone can see the writing on the wall.

However, there's still about 10 weeks to go before the convention, and even if Hillary wins the required number of delegates outright before California, Bernie will still have a huge amount of popular support going into Philadelphia in late July. He'll have a dramatic affect on the party's platform, and he's already influencing Clinton's rhetoric. Moving her more toward the liberal end of the spectrum, although she's still as firmly a conservative Democrat as Barack Obama.

And I can't believe anyone actually WANTS a third term of Obama at this point.

Tuesday, May 03, 2016

Sen. Bernie Sanders won Indiana tonight by a decent margin. With 75% of the vote counted, Sanders has nearly a 6% lead over Hillary Clinton, and will win the popular vote tonight.

However, the delegate split will only ensure that Clinton gets that much closer to the nomination. With Ted Cruz dropping out tonight after his drubbing by Donald Trump, all eyes are looking past the conventions and towards the November election.

Except...

Why is it that if Hillary has the nomination locked down, Bernie had a great showing in Indiana and won so easily? If Hillary is our nominee, why are people still voting for Bernie?

Because Bernie's message is resonating with voters. Hillary often inspires contempt with her pandering, while Sanders manages to give people hope and confidence that things will get better with him as president.

After tonight's serious thumping in the Indiana primary, Canadian-born Ted Cruz finally admitted what most of us already thought, which is a Canadian is never going to be president in the United States.

I feel sorry for the little Canuck. He's been getting hammered in the primaries by a billionaire, small-handed vulgarian, and I'm not surprised that he decided that enough of this torture is enough.

So, as long as Trump doesn't get caught with a dead girl or a live boy in his bed, he's the overwhelming presumptive nominee of the Republican party.

Yes. Trump. I can hardly believe it myself.

To all the esteemed members of the Grand Old Party, I can only say, this is exactly what you deserve for being such assholes for the last decade or so.